


nine lives

by hatsuji (pyxz)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, more members in the future?, not all rls are necessarily romantic, um a different au for every story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-14 10:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11781414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyxz/pseuds/hatsuji
Summary: Nine short stories about twelve long lives.





	1. three

> now playing: **kokobop** by _exo_ / **red flavor** by _red velvet_

"Summer's almost over," Sehun talks over the clouds of smoke spilling out of his mouth. He squints up at the sun and closes his eyes, eyebrows knitting together, dry lips cracked.

Chanyeol nods, and inhales, and exhales, then nods once and thrice again. He takes in the day with quiet, heavy breaths, swishing the taste of the season around and around and around his lungs until it loses its flavor. It's been like this everyday for the past six weeks: days cracked open bare, not knowing what to do with their lives, always talking about too much and nothing at all; causing trouble and wasting time because every moment is starting to look like the end of a road.

Sehun will be enlisting next week, and Chanyeol will be leaving next week. And so much will be happening next week, but nothing seems to be happening now. It's odd, Chanyeol thinks, how monumental things can happen so casually; how life can change so drastically so quickly. And it's stupid, Sehun thinks, how Chanyeol has been looking at him the same way since last week; as if he's about to jump out of a plane without a parachute.

"You know, I--"

"Your lip's bleeding," Chanyeol says with one eye open, peeping the red dripping. Sehun licks his lip until it stops bleeding and it makes Chanyeol think of ice cream.

"Hey, let's go get ice cream."

"Sure." Sehun rushes through four lungfuls of air before putting his joint down and slowly getting up onto his feet. "Ramen too. I'm starving." He pulls on his shoes and languidly threads the laces. "Man," he chuckles as his fingers slip and he tries again, "My mom knew her shit when she bought those velcro shoes."

Sehun laughs again and Chanyeol rolls his eyes. "You're just high. Ergonomic is just another word for ugly."

Sehun laughs again, more loud and boisterous. "You've been spending too much time with Yixing," he teases. Then his full attention is back on the ground, and he's chanting _over, under, around and through_ under his breath like a mantra.

> Over, under, around and through.  
>  Meet Mr. Park, the little bird who flew.
> 
> Over, under, around and through.  
>  Meet Mr. Oh, the bird who stayed in his coop.

 

***

> now playing: **galaxy** by _akmu_

"DID YOU SEE THAT, GEGE?!" Yixing screams from the backyard, voice muffled by the walls and doors and distance but Luhan can already hear the door slamming shut and the floorboards creaking under the weight of Yixing's sprinting.

Yixing bursts into the room, face red with excitement, dimple dug so deep into his cheek that Luhan can't help laughing. "See what, Xi--"

"DID YOU SEE THAT, LUHAN GE?" Yixing parrots, practically screaming into Luhan's ear.  
Luhan laughs through the little headache his broken eardrum has left him with. "What was it, Xing?"

"A shooting star, gege!!! An ACTUAL SHOOTING STAR! It was all"--loud wooshing sound--"It was really cool!"

"You've seen shooting stars before, Xing," Luhan says and Yixing starts shaking his head violently.

"This was the most brightest one and the coolest, though, gege! Comeoncomeoncomeon, look at it!"

Luhan lets himself be dragged from his equations and physics by Yixing's slipping concepts of time. Yixing gasps loudly when he steps out. "There!--And another one! --And there's another one!" he exclaims, laughing delightedly and clapping his hands.

Luhan stares at the sky for a moment in amazement. Then he looks back at his older brother, gaze softening as he holds Yixing's hand and tells him, "That's a meteor shower, Yixing."

"... Shower? ... Hmm..." Yixing ponders this for a moment before lighting up in amazement.

> Twinkle, twinkle, little star  
>  You're always wondering where you are  
>  I love you and that's no lie  
>  You're more precious to me than any diamond in the sky

 

 ***  
  


> now playing: **baby don't cry** by _big bang_

Chanyeol plucks the strings of his guitar into tune, guitar pick caught between his teeth and feet tapping along to a beat no one else can hear.

"Hey," he hears from the door, and he smiles his big mouth-half-open smile and tries to say hi back so immediately that he forgets the pick he's biting. It falls to the ground and Yixing laughs as he picks it up.

"Sorry," Chanyeol chuckles too. Yixing squeezes into the space beside him, sitting right behind the guitar's neck, and he watches as Chanyeol struggles to turn the tuners at all the right angles.

"You need a new guitar," Yixing suggests gently. Chanyeol knows Yixing just has a way with words and what what he really means is 'your guitar fucking sucks, Chanyeol.' "Just let me buy you one--your birthday's near, anyway! It'll be my birthday gift. I'll even get you a secondhand one!" he bargains further. Chanyeol knows that he really means 'I'll get you an expensive guitar previously used by some famous musician.' "In good condition, of course. I--"

"Yixing," Chanyeol says, looking at him and dismissing him in the same way he always does. "My birthday's in three months."

Yixing sighs in disappointment and Chanyeol almost breaks. He sucks in a breath and smiles, and he kisses Yixing's cheek. "It's okay. I got this."

Yixing bites another sigh. "Well, I'm not getting you the 3-for-1 t-shirts from the supermarket that you asked me for."

> Baby don't cry  
>  Just give me your smile  
>  I'll make all this love worth your while


	2. six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nine short stories about twelve long lives.

> now playing: **playboy**  by _exo_

"How do you know?" Jongin asks, eyes fixed on the soft curve of Sehun's nose.

"You just know," Sehun tells him, cracking another sunflower seed open between his teeth and chewing on it. Jongin laughs because he looks like a hamster. "What?" Sehun asks, eyebrow raised and laughing a little too.

He's clueless, and Jongin kisses him for it.

"Nothing. You're clueless," Jongin says, laying back down, closing his eyes and opening his mouth. Sehun stares at him a moment, eventually catching onto his waiting--eventually ignoring him completely.

Jongin peeks open one eye. Sehun doesn't move.

"Hey!" Jongin hits his arm. Sehun laughs this time, eyes folding into their adorable little crescents and lazy cat smile curling across his lips.

Jongin sits up, kisses him so soon that he finds his lips pressed against Sehun's teeth. Take a breath. Kiss again. Again, again, again.

Again, again, again.

Again, again, again--until the hour runs out, until the doors unlock, until they're back in the hands of other people.

> I have enough for my needs;  
>  (Kiss me) 'till my cup runneth over
> 
>  

***

 

> now playing: **liar**  by  _clc_

Who is he? What have you been doing? How long have you been seeing him?

The room is quiet. The night is quiet. The floors are deaf and the walls are mute. This needs to be an important conversation and it isn't.

What's his name? Tell me his name. I just want to know.

Sehun curls and uncurls and uncurls his fingers. He stretches and bends his fingertips. He crawls in and out of his skin. He breathes, and tries to speak, and comes up gasping for air again.

I know, I know, I know, I know.

This feels a lot like drowning--drowning in water when he's breathing air, drowning in noise when he can hear nothing, drowning in regret when he has none.

Just tell me. Just tell me why. I need to know why. I need to know that I--

"You didn't do anything wrong, Luhan."

"So why did you?"

> Love your neighbor like you love yourself,  
>  unless your neighbor wants to love you the way I do.
> 
>  

***

> now playing: **from u**  by  _super junior_

"I got this for you," Yixing flits into the room on light, bare feet and the same shirt he's been wearing for eighteen hours. The flights from China are long, the waiting even longer. He plops down on the space beside Chanyeol and drops a box on his lap--a little box with Gucci printed elegantly in the middle in shimmery black ink.

Chanyeol hasn't seen it yet, but there's an excited little smile on Yixing's face. Tired and excited and gentle. Happy and exhausted and awake. He lifts the lid and inside is the striped blue-and-white shirt he's been eyeing since last week.

"Aw, Yixing, you didn't have to, I--"

Yixing waves his hand dismissively and backflips onto the other side of the bed with surprising grace. "Try it on," he suggests gently as he pours himself a glass of something golden. "It'll look good, no doubt."

Chanyeol smiles, dimples and teeth. "Thank you."

Yixing waves his hand again, shakes his head and smiles back.

> Yes, it's true
> 
> I do miss you.
> 
> Days do seem to be so much longer;
> 
> as they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder.


End file.
